Ready to Frag? Quake 64 Update

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N64.com had another go with a more complete version of Quake 64 and a lot has been improved upon

By IGN Staff

Quake 2 came out for PC users yesterday, December 9, and Quake 64 comes home to Nintendo 64 March '98. The development team (the same group that brought us Doom 64) has quite a bit to live up to, now more than ever. Quake 64 looks to do to Quake what Doom 64 did to Doom, though, which is perfect it. But with Quake 2 already out and with superior technology will it be worth it?

When we first played Quake 64, a little over a month ago, the game was running smooth and playing (for the most part)) great, but there was a noticeable lack of light sourcing, water effects and real music. The game also had an overly dark look about it, as if we were wandering through the world on a low-end, tinted television set.

When we sat down to play Quake 64 today we immediately noticed that it was brighter and more colorful. Gamma correction had certainly been implemented. Levels practically glow with different shades of color now. Hallways illuminate yellow, red, green, blue, and orange. Glistening water radiates a blue haze around the land surrounding it. The RGB lighting looks splendid (remember Doom 64? This is even better.) -- it's mood setting and we think it makes the Nintendo 64 version all that much better than the original.

The second thing we noticed were the new light-sourcing effects. Rockets now illuminate hallways as they soar down them. In deathmatch, players can detect one-another by catching sight of gunfire flash or screaming rockets. Even the nail-gun spreads off a focused area of light around an opponent.

Water effects have also been tweaked. Now when a Quaker goes underwater they are treated to the same shimmering effect seen in the GL version. Unfortunately, water transparencies have not been implemented. Those of us with 3DFX cards will remember, however, that water transparencies in the original Quake were hard to come by and dropped framerates considerably.

Music, which we're told isn't finished yet, has also been improved upon. The opening Quake screen kicks off an industrial-techno beat that both Peer and I thought sounded great. Good music on Nintendo 64 is a rarity and from what we've heard so far Midway is headed in the right direction. It's not Nine Inch Nails, of course, but this isn't CD, either.

Rumble Pak support now working perfect, we felt every shot the nail-gun released, every connecting rocket and even big drops from tall ledges. This is one of those cases in which the little device is used very well and manages to be beneficial to the overall gaming experience.

The game is said to be 60% complete. The team is still working on smoothing out textures and blending the RGB lighting in the levels together more efficiently. It must be said that already the game looks comparable to GL Quake with RGB lighting and no water transparencies.

Everything said and one this game is not Quake 2. It is, on the other hand, everything that Quake should have been and will no doubt make an excellent port to hungry Nintendo 64 owners in '98.